（接續上期）
☆The footsteps on the sand might be fading away but those memories will remain fresh.
When feeling really defeated by reality, we might stroll along the beach with breeze blowing over our faces, taking in every cool breath to clear our minds to figure out some efficient approaches to resolving those issues in hand. As a student, you might get worried sick of your academic performance whether to live up to parents' expectations; as a co-worker, he shall deal with all delegated tasks wholeheartedly, but eventually he worked overtime but got underpaid; as a government official, whatever policy you've put into practice will always incur vicious comments from critics who leech on your faux pas or gaffe and made a great story on the evening talk show; as a teacher, your beloved students will intentionally record your careless jokes and some misconducts in class and make a fuss about it before releasing it on YouTube, getting you hundreds of clicks on social media at the cost of your privacy and yes your very JOB. There're countless examples. You might shrug shoulders and whisper " C'est la vie" in a low voice or march into the nature and imagine yourself plunging into the dark green lake deep down. Not for a good swim but a place for " breath of relief" My dear friends, you are likely to wander on the boulevard where sunlight is going through layers of tree leaves when you are at a crossroads by shouting at the top of your lung, " Why I have to make such tough call for my life and suddenly everything comes crash my shoulders？ Why I just cannot fine-tune my vulnerabilities to a better state which at least can weather all criticism and frustration？ Why have I become terribly hesitant when the opportunity knocks the door？ Could someone hold my hand and embrace all my faults like the Mother Nature without judgment or cynical reprimand？" Yes, humans tend to seek the forgiveness after all what we've done wrong or thought of as right at the first place. But there's a thing that you all shall bear in mind that you never change the way you act or talk as you used to be or feel reluctant to move on and walk the talk. As an old saying goes, " Old habit dies hard," you can stop feeling desperate and get out of your comfort zone with some changes you should have already done years ago. Once determined to make it, you have no excuses to stop the drum from playing anymore.
You might find it hard to notify people of what surrounded you, but we somehow felt rather defeated by some unexpected sarcasm or judgment. After all, it's never easy to develop the immunity to harsh criticism or harsh comments on you and your life. Needlessly to say, I did put a big question mark on human nature and so-called integrity most might feel obligated to adhere to since the commencement of education. There're numerous phases, for sure, in the entire life, but if we tend to lose track of the main point or the thing that really matters to maintain a healthy life without too many upset obstacles that we shouldn't have gone through there. One of my beloved students has been preparing her career life since junior year in university and she enrolled in the training courses of Cabin Crew Training. After two-year training programs, she has been morphing into a mature individual and developed humility, elegance, ambition, and adaptability throughout the past years. Unfortunately, she didn't make it to the last part of the interview despite the fact she's a total eye-catcher and really impressed most interviewers with her professional presentations. One day, she talked to me in private about her concerns for the future career path. She's also at a crossroads and felt like a deer in front of the headlight without knowing what to do after the input of long-year effort. Some students also watching her growing mature, confident, and charming came to us and tried to cheer her up by saying" Flight attendant is truly a job most people would like to kill for but you know the odds of getting into the industry is very small. You've got all qualities it requires, it's just a matter of time, that's all. They'll regret if you don't have you on board. Let's try out some other airlines which really value your talent and see your talent like the diamond in the rough." She nodded with tears welling in her eyes and after eye-witnessing everything she's done to equip herself for this position it really killed me to see her feel so helpless while helping her read the announcements in English and Chinese, giving her some advice and the way she shall correct the postures so as to bring the best out of her.
& Sometimes life doesn't work out like the way you've planned！
Lisa, later, switched her focus on the position as a waitress in the restaurant whose branches are scattered all around the world and re-wrote her resume reiterating her passion for the service industry. Her enthusiasm truly sparked Lisa's ambition going upward the streams and that's how her mother inspired her to work so diligently in the barber shop from which Lisa's mother collected the hard-earned pennies which went to bring her up from the childhood to adulthood. Needlessly to say, her mother has her heartfelt gratitude without a doubt. Truth to be told, Lisa has been rather stubborn in a wrong way which very few could talk her out of the idea we might collectively disapprove of. Anyway, she finally got the offer and started her "torment-like" probation in the past years. I thought she'd been doing great and climbing up the corporate ladder, making her way to the squad leader of such enormous organization within the international firm. Same theories applied here, most people might be content with the great achievements by far. However, little did I realize, Lisa decided to submit her resignation by the end of this year not because of the dead-end job or the stressful workload imposed her, but the lover in Australia. Yes, I do share the feeling with readers like you guys now. That dropped my jaws when she told me everything like this and I did really have attempted to make out when she got to hatch the idea. But now, she's undergoing lots of problems and viewed it as a tough call to secure her position for the current job, depositing money for the rainy day, or to apply for the vacancy for the assistant Philippines in which she spent nearly three months enrolling in a wide variety of courses featuring individualized speaking trainings and got acquainted with friends from all around the world. And I did manage to boil down to the essence of her primary concerns which targeted at " the valentine" she met in the study tour now traveling as well as working in Australia. It's obviously that she literally complicated her life with so many choices on her to-do lists and she's got a bigger fish to fry: Her Enraged Mother. Yes, it's rather common that her families are all kept in darkness about the whole thing of her planning to re-visit Philippines as a teaching assistant or engage into the working holiday program in Australia after accumulating some amount of savings for her travel expenses. Life is not always a bed of roses so that we cannot help but attempt to perfect everything, get everyone satisfied with our decisions. If you always go for that "perfect plan", your life is totally doomed without your own opinions and genuine pleasure from deep within. As a matter of fact, you are just a puppet attacked to the invisible strings manipulated by anyone in your life. Yes, everyone can get under your skin regarding every aspect of your life, your emotions, and your path for the better life.
When someone turns to you for help, you might put the professional glasses on the bridge of your nose and sit comfortably on the chair in the therapy room while one friend of yours finally came out of the closet or allowed his/her feelings to overflow with all the stories hidden for long and right at the moment you felt slightly confused why the person chose to tell you so much of his private affairs or emotional ups-and-downs. Easy, you are trustworthy or you can be widely recognized as Mr. " Keep-your-lip-sealed" person who only listened to all worries from health issues, domestic quarrels, the imminent reorganization within the firm possibly jeopardizing your job sooner or later. Being a listener is better than being an advisor under most circumstances！